Dead birds or shattered hopes?

Based on a survey of about 180 rural households raising ‘Kuroilers’ (a dual purpose village hardy bird introduced by Keggfarms Pvt. Ltd) and a control group consisting of households keeping desi birds, this study reports on the livelihood impact of the Bird Flu outbreak in early 2008 in the Indian state of West Bengal. ‘Kuroilers’ have gained substantial popularity among poor rural households and a study in 2007 examined the contribution of Kuroilers to poor peoples’ livelihood. It concluded that the Kuroiler based enterprises generated high profit margin ratios at all levels in the supply chain thereby adding to the menu of livelihood options available to the poor (Ahuja, et al, 2008). Although the overall average contribution of Kuroilers to total household income of small-scale producers was just about 10 percent, their contribution to other aspects of livelihoods such as nutritional security,  strengthening of social networks, developing entrepreneurial capabilities and increase in decision making by women was deemed substantial despite not being quantifiable in monetary terms.

Uniqueness of the current study lies in the fact that it  tracks a sub-set of the households included in 2007 study and examines the impact of the bird flu outbreak and associated control measures on income and nutritional aspects of households involved in the entire chain of Kuroiler distribution and production.

Key findings are given below
1. Five months after lifting of the poultry production ban, poultry stock was still well below pre-outbreak levels (approximately 50 percent lower in indirectly affected districts and 75 percent lower in the directly affected district).
2. A lack of seed-stock due to disruption in supply chain and inaccessibility to micro-credit appear to be the major constraints in more rapid restocking.
3. The massive loss of poultry, although traumatic, did not have a significant impact on the food security of producer households; grain consumption was not affected and poultry protein was substituted by fish protein. 
4. Households coped with income shortfalls by reducing educational expenditure, mostly on ‘private instruction’ and educational supplies for children.
5. The supply chain of Kuroiler operations, the key strength of the Kuroiler model, has broken down in many places. This resulted in supply shortfall in Kuroiler chicks leading to a sharp increase in their sale prices. This, in turn, resulted in exclusion of bottom poor households from the Kuroiler market. Also, an increase in the feed cost somewhat reduced the attractiveness of poultry as an economic enterprise for these households.
6. Compensation only reached a very small proportion of households who presented their birds for culling while households who withheld birds benefited through post outbreak price increases and more rapid restocking, which creates perverse incentives for future outbreaks.
7. Knowledge level regarding Bird Flu and Bio security measures remains low amongst the poor poultry keepers for want of awareness campaigns.
8. The lack of relationship between the Animal Husbandry Department and poultry keepers  (key players in the solution) has come in the way of containment of the outbreak. 
The report is available at: #.

Contributed by - Coordination Team